1975 Tasman Series

The 1975 Tasman Series, (officially the Tasman Championship for Drivers[1]), was a motor racing competition open to Racing Cars complying with the Tasman Formula.[2] Contested over eight rounds in New Zealand and Australia beginning on 5 January and ending on 23 February,[3] it was the twelfth and final Tasman Series. The series was organised jointly by the Motorsport Association of New Zealand and the Confederation of Australian Motorsport[1] and was promoted as the Peter Stuyvesant International Series for the 1975 Tasman Championship.[2]

The series was won by Australian driver Warwick Brown in his fourth year of Formula 5000 racing with the Pat Burke Racing team, driving a Lola T332 Chevrolet. The series was resolved in a dramatic final race inwhat turned out to be the final Tasman Series race of all, at Sandown Raceway. Brown, fellow Australian Johnnie Walker and New Zealander Graeme Lawrence all sat on 30 points prior to the last race. All three struck trouble but with a sixth position Brown claimed the final point in Tasman Series history, breaking the deadlock to win the crown by one point. Race wins had been shared around with Brown and Lawrence each winning twice, with single victories going to Walker, Chris Amon who finished fifth in the points behind the winless but consistent John McCormack, and to Graham McRae and John Goss who each completed partial series runs focussed on their home country events.

In the aftermath of this series, the two legs of the Tasman Series broke apart. The New Zealand half became the Peter Stuyvesant Series and converted to Formula Atlantic in 1977. The Australian half became the Rothmans International Series.[4]

Races

Warwick Brown won the series driving a Lola T332 similar to the example pictured above

Additional information sourced from:[4]

Round Name Circuit Date Winning driver Winning car Winning entrant Report
New
Zealand
1 Levin International Levin 5 January New Zealand Graeme Lawrence Lola T332 Chevrolet Marlboro /Singapore Airlines / Wix Filters[5] Report
2 New Zealand Grand Prix Pukekohe 12 January Australia Warwick Brown Lola T332 Chevrolet Pat Burke Racing Report
3 Lady Wigram Trophy Wigram 19 January New Zealand Graham McRae McRae GM2 Chevrolet Commercial Bank of Australia[6] Report
4 Teretonga International Teretonga 26 January New Zealand Chris Amon Talon MR-1 Chevrolet MacCormack Racing[7] Report
Australia 5 Oran Park 100 Oran Park 2 February Australia Warwick Brown Lola T332 Chevrolet Pat Burke Racing Report
6 Surfers Paradise 100 Surfers Paradise 9 February Australia Johnnie Walker Lola T332 Repco-Holden Walker Racing Report
7 Adelaide 100 Adelaide 16 February New Zealand Graeme Lawrence Lola T332 Chevrolet Singapore Airlines[2] Report
8 Sandown Park Cup Sandown 23 February Australia John Goss Matich A53 Repco-Holden John Goss Racing Report

Points system

Championship points were awarded at each round on the following basis:

Position[8] 1 2 3 4 5 6
Points[8] 9 6 4 3 2 1

Championship Standings

Pos[3] Driver[3] Car[3] Entrant[2] LEV PUK WIG TER ORA SUR ADE SAN Pts[3]
1 Australia Warwick Brown Lola T332 Chevrolet Part Burke Racing 2 1 Ret Ret 1 8 2 6 31
2 New Zealand Graeme Lawrence Lola T332 Chevrolet Singapore Airlines 1 3 5 9 2 9 1 Ret 30
= Australia Johnnie Walker Lola T332 Repco Holden Walker Racing 4 4 3 4 3 1 3 Ret 30
4 Australia John McCormack Elfin MR6 Repco Holden Ansett Team Elfin 8 6 2 2 5 5 DNS 2 23
5 New Zealand Chris Amon Talon MR1 Chevrolet McCormack Racing Ret 7 Ret 1 4 Ret 4 5 17
6 Australia John Goss Matich A53 Repco Holden John Goss Racing Ret 3 Ret 1 13
7 New Zealand Graham McRae McRae GM2 Chevrolet
Matich A51 Repco Holden
Commercial Bank of Australia[6]
Ampol (Australia)
Ret Ret 1 DNS 8 4 12
= Australia Kevin Bartlett Lola T400 Chevrolet Chesterfield Filter Racing 3 Ret Ret 3 10 6 Ret 4 12
9 New Zealand Ken Smith Lola T332 Chevrolet la Vilase Travel Agents[9] 5 5 9 8 6 2 Ret 7 11
= Australia Max Stewart Lola T400 Chevrolet Max Stewart Motors Ret 8 4 5 7 Ret 5 3 11
11 New Zealand Jim Murdoch Begg 018 Chevrolet Begg & Allen Ltd 6 2 7 Ret DNS 7 Ret 7
12 New Zealand David Oxton Lola T330 Chevrolet Coca-Cola Bottlers (N.Z.) Ltd[6] 6 Ret 1
= New Zealand Baron Robertson Elfin MR5 Repco Holden Robertson Racing[7] 9 11 DNS 6 1
= Australia Garrie Cooper Elfin MR5 Repco Holden Ansett Team Elfin[9] Ret 7 6 8 1
Pos Driver Car Entrant LEV PUK WIG TER ORA SUR SAN ADE Pts
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver Second place
Bronze Third place
Green Points finish
Blue Non-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple Retired (Ret)
Red Did not qualify (DNQ)
Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
Black Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Withdrew (WD)
Race cancelled (C)
Blank Did not practice (DNP)
Did not arrive (DNA)
Excluded (EX)

Key

Abbreviation Circuit
ADE Adelaide
LEV Levin
ORA Oran Park
PUK Pukekohe
SAN Sandown
SUR Surfers Paradise
TER Teretonga
WIG Wigram

References

  1. ^ a b Tasman Championship for Drivers, CAMS Manual of Motor Sport, 1975, pages 80 to 83
  2. ^ a b c d Official Programme, Adelaide International Raceway, February 16th 1975
  3. ^ a b c d e Tasman Series, Australian Competition Yearbook, 1976 Edition, pages 64 to 81
  4. ^ a b Allen Brown. "Tasman Cup (F5000) races « Formula 5000 « OldRacingCars.com". Archived from the original on 24 September 2009. Retrieved 27 August 2009.
  5. ^ Tasman Rd. 1, Racing Car News, February 1975, page 28
  6. ^ a b c Tasman Rd. 3, Racing Car News, February 1975, page 6
  7. ^ a b Tasman Rd. 4, Racing Car News, March 1975, page 30
  8. ^ a b Tasman Series 1975, www.sergent.com.au Retrieved 23 November 2015
  9. ^ a b Official Programme, Sandown, February 23rd 1975